UPDATED May 28: 35 percent containment on Allie Lake fire

UPDATE (3 p.m.): The BC Wildfire Service has reported that 35 per cent of the Allie Lake wildfire has been contained, mostly on the southern flank where it originated on May 23.

“We are making good progress on this fire,” said Heather Rice, fire information officer. “The fire is quieter today due to cloudy, cooler weather.”

The containment reaches around some of the other flanks and Rice said the service hasn’t been using their buckets due to the quietness of the fire and lack of wind.

She said the service is still working on installing fire guards on the northeastern flank and they are expected to be finished by the end of May 29, if not sooner. The guard was meant to be finished earlier but the activity of the fire on May 27 made it hard to do so.

“Now that is quieter there, we are able to do some work there. We are trying to pinch off that entire northeastern flank so we can contain it there,” said Rice.

An upcoming cold front supposed to hit sometime today has the service focusing their energy on the eastern front now, with the wind looking to shift the path of the fire southeasterly instead of northeastern.

“We are really working in the area to make sure we’re fortifying that guard,” said Rice. “Part of the good news is that they are anticipating some rain with that cold front, perhaps overnight or tomorrow.”

On May 28, boundary changes were made to the area restriction order on Crown land.

Instead of going through the middle of Bonaparte Lake the restriction now rests below the lake. Everything else about the order remains the same.

ORIGINAL POST: The Allie Lake fire is still estimated at 2,700 hectares this morning, according to fire information officer Heather Rice.

“It was cooler again last night so we wouldn’t have had any significant growth overnight.”

They’re preparing for winds to change from the southwest to the northwest, meaning they’re fortifying the guards on the western flank, she says.

Because of how spotty the fire is, with a very large area within the perimeter unburned, the fire rank behaviour varies going up to rank 3 or 4 in some spots in the afternoon, she says.

The spottiness can provide extra challenges because it’s so spread out, says Rice.

“Even though we’re trying to contain that fire, it could burn for quite some time because there is so many small spots. So this is the kind of fire where rain could really help our efforts a lot.”

As long as there are not severe winds, they should be able to contain the fire within the current perimeters and will be able to contain it within the current perimeter, she says.

Because there are some cabins in the area, they’ll do their best to extinguish some spots within the perimeter and do some burn off operations within to make sure that heavy fuels don’t remain to recatch fire.